More Stories

Related Podcast

Lake Horowhenua owner Vivienne Taueki says a community service award she has received from Horowhenua District council doesn't make up for what she has endured trying to protect what is one of the country's most polluted lakes.

Horowhenua District Council Mayor Michael Feyen says Ms Taueki is an active member of the Muaupoko Cooperative Society, working to maintain ancestral lands and waterways, and she also provided advice and support to him on many matters, including employment, iwi land, Māori Land Court processes, hemp, and the history of Horowhenua.

Ms Taueki says the award should have gone first to her brother Philip.

She accepted because it came from the new mayor, who is trying to resolve some of the long standing issues raised by Muaupoko - against opposition from many of his councillors.

"We've still got a long way to go before Muaupoko could say this council is truly working towards what's best for the lake," Ms Taueki says.

The award also won't make up for the more than $100,000 in costs charged against her brother and her for appeals against resource consents which a recent Environment Court judgment indicates could have been issued illegally by Horizons Regional Council.

Climate Change is here now - what will we do?
Martyn 'Bomber' Bradbury: News last week that the latest studies show Antartica is in danger of melting should shake us from any complacency that climate change is some distant event at the end of the century.